Happiness

Happiness is what makes life worthwhile. It supersedes other goals, like money, friendship, and love. In the end, we all want to be happy. So striking, and unnerving is that there is no direct route to happiness. When people try to buy it by becoming rich, they will want to become even richer, they stop enjoying the little things, and their happiness will not increase. I, therefore, find the quote by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow) so great. By living in the now, you will be happy, no matter the circumstances.

The centrality of happiness is very well illustrated by the number of quotes on the topic. This paragraph features some of the greatest thinkers of all time and their views on happiness. 

“Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.” – George Orwell. 

“Remember, happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think.” – Dale Carnegie. 

“Pleasure is the only thing to live for. Nothing ages like happiness.” – Oscar Wilde. 

“Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” – Alexandre Dumas. 

“If you want to understand the meaning of happiness, you must see it as a reward and not as a goal.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 

“…happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it…” – Aristotle.